The Ground Floor People cut two fine singles, first “Walking on Eggs” / “It’s All Right Now”, produced by Ronnie Eden and Joe Simmons on Parfait 101, from September, 1966, then “Treat Me Better” and “Workaday World”, produced by Morty Croft and Ronnie Eden, and released on Mercury 72719 in mid-late 1967.
Tom Ciulla wrote to me and answered my questions about the group:
The Ground Floor People was my group and I played drums and wrote songs. My brother Don Ciulla originally put the group together. He played rhythm guitar and lead vocals. Lead guitar, Tommy Morrow and Freddie Davidson on bass and background vocals. I played drums and sang lead, background vocals and did the screaming (“Treat Me Better”). I came up with the name “Ground Floor People”. We usually rehearsed in a ground floor apartment or basement. Everyone was from Brooklyn.
We were playing in a club called Freddie’s. The owners were trying to sell the place. The group became very popular and after a few months there was a line down the block. The owners decided not to sell and we played there for over nine months. I am pretty sure that was where we met Ronnie Eden (Edelstein).
Joe Simmons was a real sweetheart. I wrote “It’s All Right Now” with Joe and collaborated on another song that I wrote and he did the arrangement on. It was called “My Man’s a PHD”. Ronnie Eden produced the session and discovered a young “Aretha type” singer to record the song. I remember Ronnie saying that he got a drummer, Perdie Persaval [Bernard Purdie?], who he said played for James Brown, and Perdie got the other musicians to sit in on the session.
Q. I haven’t heard of a Perdie Persaval, but Bernard Purdie played on tons of NY sessions, including one with James Brown.
That was probably the guy. How many drummers named Purdie could there be?
Ronnie claimed he operated on a tight budget. We never had a chance to correct anything in the studio. Like Don Krantz [of Yesterday’s Children, also produced by Eden] said about the bad note on his recording. We all thought the songs “Wanna Be With You” and “Feelings” were really hit tunes. I never met anyone from Yesterdays Children.
I realized later on Ronnie was more interested in having the publishing and recordings of the artists than the quality and promotion of the production. He told me on several occasions he had publishing on several hit songs and recordings that he produced before they were successful. Unfortunately, I made several recordings but was unable to hold on to any of the demos.
My brother was drafted and the group broke up. I played with a few different bands for a while and eventually put together the second Ground Floor People. Sammy Sicalo, lead guitar, George Mandel on keyboard, and Tony Radicello on bass and lead vocals. I played drums and sang lead, background vocals as well. I wrote “Treat Me Better” and “Work A Day World” with Tony. When Ronnie got a recording contract form Mercury records, Tony and I wrote two more songs, “Wanted To Be With You” and “Make A Little Room”. All four songs were recorded at the Mercury session. I always felt “PHD” and the last two tunes at Mercury were my best efforts.
Tom Ciulla
“I Wanted to Be With You Girl” / “Make a Little Room” would show up on a 45 by the One Way Street on the Boutique label, both songs credited to Anthony Radicello, Jr., Tom Ciulla and Ronnie Eden for Impeccable Music, BMI, with production by Ronnie Eden.
Ronnie Eden’s name only comes up in Billboard in conjunction with Ted Black. Together they sold masters by John Gary to Cameo/Parkway and were sued for it by RCA (Billboard, November 13, 1965).
Tom also tipped me to this article about Ronnie becoming New Orleans record shop legend, Record Ron, who passed away in 1996. I used to go to Record Ron’s shop during the two times I lived in New Orleans in the ’80s and ’90s, but I had no idea of his previous career as a producer.
The Ducaines, circa 1967, from left: Tommy Mariani, Jerry Silber, Freddy Baroni, Art Lent and Marc Laflotte
The Ducaines came from the same Bronx music scene as the Elegant Four. They recorded two songs at Variety Recording on 46th Street in Manhattan which deserved a release, but have remained unheard until this year. Founder and lead guitarist Art Lent wrote to me about his group and sent the photos seen here:
I formed the The DuCaines in 1964 and they lasted until 1969. The original members when I formed The DuCaines were Jerry Silber (bass), Charley Vicari (rhythm guitar), Joe Barbato (drums) and myself, Artie Lent, on lead guitar. I replaced Joe when I was introduced to Freddy Baroni and he played the drums at his house for us. What a great drummer!
We played many of the Catholic high school dances in the upper Bronx. We also performed at the Worlds Fair held in Queens, New York. The singer was Tony Lavell (a stage name) and the rhythm guitar was Charlie in this early group pictured at the Fair. We played on the New York State Pavillion stage.
Early version of the DuCaines at the New York State Pavilion, World’s Fair, 1964 From left Freddy Baroni, Art Lent, Charlie Vicari, Tony Lavell (Bavaro), and Jerry Silber
Our very first recording, “How Do I Love Thee” was also done at Variety Recording studios in New York. I believe I was about 14 years old. The DuCaines was brand new with Joey on drums, Jerry on bass and myself on lead. I don’t believe we had a rhythm guitar yet. We were asked by a local singing group called “The Provincials” to back them up since they didn’t play instruments. They had a great lead singer. The DuCaines did a few shows with them around the high school dances. This recording [is] from my demo record so it’s a little scratchy.
Freddy Baroni and bass player Jerry Silber stayed with me as I changed members during the years. I later replaced Charley and Tony with Marc Laflotte as lead singer/rhythm and Tommy Mariani on keyboard. We needed them because we wanted to do songs by the Rascals, Vanilla Fudge, Vagrants and other similar bands. We later bought a Hammond B3 like many other top bands back then like the Rascals. We were the house band for many of the WMCA Good Guy radio shows at the high schools. We played in concert at Cardinal Spellman High School as the opening band for The Vagrants.
We later lost Marc for some reason and Joey (?) came in as lead singer and rhythm guitar. These are the members that recorded two songs I wrote and copyrighted at Variety Recording studios in 1966 or 1967, “Little Angel” and “I’m New”.
We only had demo records made at Variety, we never had the record pressed into a 45 for release. We were waiting to get some more songs together. I took the original Scotch 8 track tape to a studio in Tampa Florida just a few weeks ago and after much work was able to get it to play. He moved the two recordings after 45 years plus to a digital software and him and I sat in his studio and remixed each track for 2 1/2 hours.
A few months after the recording our bass player left for the Army. Joey filled in on bass and sang lead. He left for school soon after Jerry returned from Army reserve training. Then I left to join the US Marines and went to Vietnam. The band broke up a few months later. The DuCaines merged with The Elegant Four after I left to join the Marine Corps. I believe the Elegant Four were calling themselves Windigo at the time.
Art Lent
Update, January 2011:
Fred Baroni’s stepdaughter wrote to say Fred passed away of esophageal cancer in April of 1995 at the young age of 45.
From left: Tommy Mariani, Jerry Silber, Art Lent, Marc Laflotte and Freddy BaroniThe DuCaines at Variety Recording, circa 1967 Clockwise from bottom left: Art Lent, Jerry Silber, Joey Barbato, Tommy Mariani and (center), Freddy BaroniThe Ducaines first high school dance, 1964: Joe Barbato on drums. Jimmy Skau, founder and manager of The DuCaines, is standing off stage on far left. Tony is next to him off stage sitting waiting to come out and sing. Front stage left to right Jerry, Art and Charley on guitars.
Artie Lent sent in these photos of him and his son on stage with the Bronx Wanderers. Artie writes, “these are the pictures of when my son played on stage with me this past February 2020. He’s playing the Fender Jazzmaster that I played in the 1960’s with The DuCaines.” Read Jason’s blog post on the Ducaines & the ’60s Bronx music scene.
I grew up on 34th Street with Barry Bozzone though I was a few years younger. The Poor Soul’s covered many of The Primates’ songs including “Fate”. I don’t believe The Primates recorded a studio version of the song.
Earlier this year, our lead singer, Phil Borgia sent me The Poor Soul’s recording of the song, made in the late 60’s. It was put on tape by Phil’s uncle, using a guerilla recording technique during a rehearsal i.e., using a microphone placed in front of the room plugged into a reel-to-reel deck.
Unfortunately, no one has been able to find photos of the band though I know we had enough taken that some should still exist. I have the band rehearsing on converted 8mm film that was put on 1.2 VHS and then converted to digital media.
The Poor Souls business card [to the right] was very unusual. My father designed it, he was a graphic artist.
After our bands split up, Barry and I played together in a number of bands with only limited success. We also co-wrote quite a few songs though our careers in other fields short-circuited any chance for popularity. However, we have reconnected too after 40 years and we are making plans to reunite, at least on one song we think has a fighting chance in the Christian song market.
I’ve been living in Mahwah, NJ for the last 12 years or so. My former bandmates are all on the east coast – two in NY, one in PA and one in North Carolina. The five members of The Poor Souls (sans Mark) are reuniting for the first time in over 40 years this weekend. I’ve attempted to find Mark on several occasions but no luck.
Rick Grande, November 2010
Here is some great 8mm film of the band, with “Fate” and their version of “C.C. Rider” / “Jenny Take a Ride” added as a soundtrack.
2010 reunion, from left to right: Rick, Joe (Mac), Phil’s daughter Lorissa, Vinny and John
Rick also sent two interesting photos of Hy Fenster’s Universal Rehearsal and Recording, a studio which is still in business at the same address, 17 W. 20th Street in Manhattan.
Universal Rehearsal and Recording
Tascam founded in 1971, so this photo must be no earlier than that year.
Back row: Tom Cosgrove, Billy Dennis and Pete Santora. Front row: Dennis Sousa and John Tomany
From the Bronx, the Elegant Four were also known as the Elegants. Tom Crosgrove was lead guitarist and vocalist, and wrote both songs on their only 45. Other members included Bill Dennis and Pete Santora.
The chanted vocals and echoing chords give “Time to Say Goodbye” a downcast mood, brightening momentarily during the chorus where the singer gives the boot to the girl holding out on him.
On the flip is the uptempo “I’m Tired”, with more fine harmonies and a good guitar solo.
These songs were originally released on the Cousins label, produced by Mike Barbiero. It was picked up for a December ’65 release on Mercury, but doesn’t seem to have made much chart impact.
Sources: photo from Pete Santora’s site. Thanks to Tom for clarifying the photo IDs.
A couple other photos are available on Tom Walsh’s site Bronx Bands of the Past (warning: Angelfire sites like this one always have pop-up ads).
This 45 has great atmosphere and unusual production. It’s the work of several talented people who were usually involved in much more commercial music.
Singer and songwriter Stephen Hartley is Stephen Hartley Dorff, a composer of songs and movie & TV soundtracks. The producer Walt Levinsky was an old-time swing clarinet player, composer and arranger who is most well known for writing theme songs for television, including the old CBS evening news theme. The arranger Steve Cagan worked for years with Melissa Manchester. MB Records is also the label that released Manchester’s first record, again with Cagan and Levinsky’s production.
“Have You Seen Her” did make the charts of WOR-FM in New York for a few weeks in July and August of 1967. I prefer “The Other Side” for the moodiness of the music and obsessive lyrics.
“Save Me” is a slow and intense psychedelic 45 featuring the anguished vocal of Richy Pecchio over the Brotherhood of Soul’s repetitive vamp. The flip is a shorter instrumental version of “Save Me”, retitled “The Morning After” with the bass guitar right up at the edge of the red on the meters.
Released on the Goldbug label, the RCA custom press number ‘UK4M’ indicates this was released in 1967. Both sides were written by Rich Pecchio and B. Sell. The 45 was produced by Ron Gittman, who was the agent that brought the Magnificent Men to Capitol Records.
This session was engineered by Abe Steinberg at Abtone Recording Studio. Abtone was located at 1733 Broadway in New York City, and in 1966 had been the site of some sessions featuring Lonnie Youngblood, Jimi Hendrix, Lee Moses and Herman Hitson, as well as other r&b artists like Ronnie Forte.
I couldn’t find any further info on this record until Richard Pecchio himself contacted me:
I was recruited by an ex-DJ turned manager when he saw me singing at a nightclub. He was or still is the owner of a trucking company in Manhattan, New York, his name is Lonnie Kaufman. He eventually got me signed to a record label called Kip Records in ’61. At that time I did not write songs, so we went with a cover for fast results: “Dream Lover” a cover of Bobby Darin’s hit record. The other side was a song called “Cherrie” by Bobby Rydell.
He also signed Nate Bouknight, also known as “Little Nat” from the Shells. Their hit song was “Baby Oh Baby” (late 50’s fame). Nate wrote a real good song called “Do This Do That,” that made some noise. Certainly I learned a lot from him.
I also went on a tour and performed on television programs, one called Boston Ballroom – the other guest was Brenda Lee. Being only 17, I was thrilled. Our make-up was put on in the same room. Lonnie Kaufman also managed Tony Darryl, who was on the Ed Sullivan show. It was a great start to my recording career.
[For the next] four years I was with various different genre bands trying to find a fit for what type of music I wanted to sing: City Magic – “Going Back to Florida” [b/w] a slow cover of the Loving Spoonful’s “Do You Believe in Magic”, and the Minutemen “A Little Too Much.”
The Brotherhood of Soul was started by a Stan Summers, (real name of group: Stan Summers and the Unsual) who was in a group (don’t remember the name) that did the backups for Dion on “The Wanderer” and “Ruby Baby”.
I don’t remember my group’s last names, but I believe I remember their first names: another Richard: a B3 Hammond Organ player; Andre: bass & sax player, tenor vocals; Steve was the drummer; Stan just sang; finally, I played rhythm guitar, and sang lead and harmonies.
We played our first job on Long Island, NY, we only knew 13 songs at the start, needless to say, we played each song for a very long time. We progressed and the sax player’s father was a policeman who introduced the band to a club owner named Charlie Bates who owned clubs in Manhattan and Westhampton Bay, NY. The club owner liked our music and hired us in 1967 to play the total summer on the shore of Westhampton Bay.
He supplied the band with a large home to stay at, it was part of the package; it was called “Captain’s Lodge.” It was a sweet deal. The name of the club we played at was called “Charlie Bates”. The prior summer the Young Rascals came to fame at a club called The Barge. We played adjacent to a club called The Eye who was featuring the soon to be famous Leslie West. The crowds were enormous throughout the summer; needless to say it was a very successful summer and one to remember.
After that we went searching for “fame” and meet Ron Gitman, who produced the song (“Save Me”) and managed the band. Our tours were great, of course it all went down-hill after that. I still sing & write every so often, here is a link of a song that is on Youtube, called: “The Mojito Song”, also known as “Idle” www.youtube.com/user/rpecchio
PS: this was a long time ago, some of the facts might not be accurate.
This is a classic garage LP, even though it’s a real mixed-bag of styles and quality. All the bands culled from Westchester County and the northern Bronx. Judging from the songs the bands cover it probably dates to sometime in 1967. A note on the back cover says the label auditioned over 100 groups. Jimmy Carpenito of the Mystics tells me Renvell’s studio was next to Gun Town on Central Ave in White Plains.
I thought it was likely Ren-Vell advertised for bands then asked them to put up some dollars to get their cut on the album. However, since first posting about this record, a sibling of one of the members of “The” wrote to me: “there definitely was a Battle of the Bands in Westchester County to compete for participation in the album. The guys didn’t pay to have their song on the album.”
The best original song on the record is undoubtedly the Traits’ “High on a Cloud”, an antisocial ode to chemical escape written by their singer, Mike Carroll.
The Traits on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour
I got a nickel bag, my eyes are drooping, they’re starting to sag Since you left me girl, well I think that life is a drag I’ll show you girl that you can’t keep on running around Because I’m high on a cloud and I ain’t never coming down
Well you left me girl, with two feet down on the ground I’ll show you girl that you can’t keep on running around I’ll get me a bag and I’ll show you just what I can do I’ll get so high I’ll wave goodbye to you
Cause I’m high on a cloud, high on a cloud, High on a cloud, and I ain’t comin’ down no more
With lyrics like those, it would be no wonder that Ren Vell buried it at the end of the second side, but the band said they chose to be last on the album. I wonder how many listeners made it all the way through the LP! About the time this album was cut, the Traits appeared on Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour (taped at CBS studios on Broadway – sponsored by Geritol!) doing Paul Revere & the Raiders’ “Just Like Me”. Mack introduces them as “high school students and a machinist from Pelham, NY!” In 1969, they recorded “Nobody Loves the Hulk”, an interesting attempt to capitalize on the Marvel Comics hero that I’ll feature soon.
The other great original is the Henchmen’s “Say,” written by their guitarist and vocalist John Wallin. The drummer bashes away behind a leaden fuzz riff, segueing to a relatively complex bridge. Andy Porter lays down a good, crude solo, with nice tremolo at the end.
The Henchmen also cut a number of demos at Bruno-Dean Recording Studios in New Rochelle and at United Recording including “Strangers”, “Jack of All Trades”, “Walk With Me Baby”, “Sad Clown” and “Stepping Stone”. Hear some of these on the new comp “I’ve Had Enough!” on Norton.
Of the cover songs, my favorite is “Respect” by “The”, followed by the Gyration’s take on “Stepping Stone” and the Night Rider’s version of “Jenny Take a Ride”.
Raunch’s version of “Hungry” is good, but my copy has a skip in it. Their bassist Frank Taxiera told me, “Joe Renda asked us to submit a song from about fifteen that we recorded at his studio between ’66 and ’67.” I’ve since posted more on Raunch here.
As for the rest, there are a couple light pop numbers, like “Lolly Pop Train” by the Mystics and “The Glass Toy” by the Reptiles, but they’re not bad. The most out of touch with the times is “Angel Baby” by the Vectors of the Bronx, where Carol Pecchio’s fine vocal performance is buried in echo behind the drums and bass. Some of the covers are unremarkable, but the Orphans out-of-tune vocals on the Byrds’ “Feel a Whole Lot Better” dooms that cut despite good instrumental playing.
I spent far too much time typing out the credits in the interests of ah, history. What follows is a complete list of songs and band members on the album, and links to a few of the better songs.
A1. Hungry – Raunch, from Ossining and Briarcliff Manor
Sandy Katz – rhythm guitar & vocal Jay Manning – lead guitar Frank Taxiera – bass Tom Walker – drums
A2. Jenny Take a Ride – The Night Riders, Portchester
Henry Lopez – lead guitar Cheno Lopez – guitar Dominick Gabrieli – rhythm guitar Tony Ojeda – bass Mike Lopez – drums
A3. Angel Baby – The Vectors, Bronx
Louie Glattino – drums Ronnie Salotto – organ Doug LoPresti guitar Charlie Pecchio – guitar Carol Pecchio – vocal
A4. Out of Sight – The Night Crawlers, White Plains
Geof. Greenburg – drums Bob Bloomfield – guitar & vocal Gary Kemp – guitar Rodge Altman – bass Otis Moore – vocals
A5. The Glass Toy – The Reptiles, Ossining
Mark Worthy – guitar & vocal Ron Macera – drums Paul Slavin – bass Steve Worthy – guitar & vocal
A6. Say – The Henchmen, Pleasantville
Ray Greene – organ Jimmy Porter – drums Mark Zvonkovic – bass Andy Porter – guitar John Wallin – guitar, vocal
B1. (I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone – The Gyrations, Yonkers
John Soares, 3rd. – guitar, vocal Ronnie Christmann – bass John Karlsson – guitar Nick Vitulli – organ Robert Karlsson – drums
B2. Lolly Pop Train – Tne Mystics, Valhalla or White Plains
Jimmy Carpenito – vocal & guitar Charlie Sinerate – guitar Dan Liberati – bass Mike Mruz – drums Bob Fresta – organ
B3. Didn’t Want to Have to Do It – The Hangmen, Eastchester
Joe Montclare – vocals Art Sammartino – Cordavox Jim Miranti – drums, John Bruno – bass Joe Manganiello – guitar
B4. Respect – “The”, Yonkers
Richard Kudelka – bass Sal Del Bene – drums Bill Connors – guitar Bob Kolachik – vocal & guitar Frank Longo – organ
B5. Feel a Whole Lot Better – The Orphans, White Plains
Vinny Leonardis – guitar & vocals Joe Gangemi – bass & vocal Mike Saland – guitar and vocal Ricky Pelpzman – drums
B6. High On A Cloud – The Traits, Pelham
Don Chicherchia – guitar (I believe Dom Chicerchia is correct) Bob Creaturo – guitar Mike Carrol – vocal Bobby Williams – drums Jim Klieforth – organ
Recording engineer: Ernie Rivellino A&R: Joe Renda Supervision: Pete Iarussi Renda-Rivell Studios 317 Central Ave, White Plains
There are also at least two singles on Ren-Vell, best of which may be the Mystics (covered here):
RV-318 The Sherwoods – Third Summer (That I Loved You) (by Joe Lanza) / Lonely for You, supervised by Ken Luttman.
RV-320 The Mystics – This Is What I Was Made For / Ride My Pony (Come) – not the Lee Dorsey song but an original by James Carpenito and B. Fresta
Updates:
Since writing this I’ve heard from Vinnie Leonardis of the Orphans:
I was the founder of the Orphans out of White Plains High School. We played school dances around 1965 tru 1967.
How did we get on the album? Joe Renda belonged to the same church. He had a band that played for one of the church dinner dances. They played for the older crowd. They let the Orphans get up a play a few songs for the teenagers. As I remember it about three seconds into the first song, the priest ran up to the stage waving his arms frantically to TURN THAT NOISE DOWN! Well, we got tru it. At the end of the night Joe told us about the album he was making and were we interested in being on it. Of course we gladly accepted. Thanks to father Julius for letting us finish the set.
Not sure how that song got picked for the album. We surely had better songs than that. And YES the vocals on our cut of the album were humorous.
There actually was a battle of the bands around the time that album was cut. I still have the third place plaque. I think Jimmie Carps Mystics took first place.
Unfortunately the other three members of the band have all passed on. I still have my 1964 Rickenbacker guitar that I use on gigs once in a while but nothing can replace the excitement of that era.
Doug LoPresti wrote to me with some info about the Vectors:
Although we were billed as being from the Bronx, I and three others were from Yonkers! And White Plains was part of the community of interest. I was guitar with Ron Salotto on keyboard for many years. We hooked up with Carol and Charlie and Louie later. We were a classic garage band … Louie’s basement! We called it the “Cellarino” Geez! I’m sorry we got such bad reviews for that recording! That version of “Angel Baby” was a huge hit wherever we played. It was Carol in person that made it so … without seeing her, it loses impact!
We continued through the 70’s as an active group, switched to the wedding scene as everyone did. By the 80s we all had kids and not enough time to continue. I reconnected with Carol about ten years ago, she’s in North Carolina now. I’m still friends with Ron (keyboard) but can’t find Louie. Actually there were many times when we couldn’t find him then either!
Thanks to Rockin’ Rex for info on the Ren-Vell 45s and Raunch single.
Joe Renda of Ren-Vell correction: Ernie Rivellino tells me this is not Joe Renda or Ren-Vell Studio
Eddie Reeves was writing songs, arranging and producing for United Artists in the mid-late ’60s. He wrote and produced the fantastic “A Million Things” for the Restless Feelins, layering distorted guitar throughout the track, even over the vocals and chorus.
The flip is a Byrds-like song by Bruce Murdoch, “Hey Mama You’ve Been on My Mind”. I knew nothing about the band behind this 45 until Eddie Reeves set the record straight with his comment (see below). I repeat it here in its entirety:
The Restless Feelin’s was me along with Ron Dante singing harmony. The “A” side of the record was actually “Hey Mama You Been On My Mind” but not the Dylan song. It was written by a fellow named Bruce Murdoch and it’s a clever song with Dylan-type lyrics. I did the recording as a demo for United Artists Music Company in New York while employed by them as a demo producer, song writer and song plugger from 1965 thru 1967 in New York and then from 1968 thru 1971 in Los Angeles.
The musicians are Hugh McCracken -guitar; Frank Owens -keyboards; Bobby Gregg -drums; and Joe Macho -bass. United Artists Records decided to release it as a single and asked me to record a “B” side and “A Million Things” was the result with the same musicians but without Ron Dante doing harmony which was done by me.”
A short time after this record by the Restless Feelins, Eddie Reeves produced another UA 45 by the Hysterical Society, a band from his hometown, Amarillo, Texas.
60sgaragebands.com has an interview with Eddie covering the early part of his career.
The Prime Mover were led by two brothers from New York, John Pastor and Tony Pastor, Jr., who wrote both sides of this mystical opus.
Released in late 1967 on the Socko label, “When You Made Love To Me” contrasts droning chords with ringing chimes and quirky lead guitar work. The dense production prevents this song from having as strong an impact as it could have.
The less ambitious flip, “Shadow of a Day Gone By”, falls flat by comparison. The Pastors were sons of jazz bandleader Tony Pastor, and also had a vocal group the Pastor Brothers with their other sibling, Guy.
The Quadrangle were a New York group, and this is their only 45, released in October of 1966.
“She’s Too Familiar” now is a classic garage song. Every element is striking: the keyboard intro, the bass line and drums, the sharp guitar parts and the fantastic vocal, with a tambourine-led chorus that brings it all together.
The b-side, “No More Time” combines a New Orleans type beat with a bit of Donovan’s Mellow Yellow vocal delivery.
I had thought they were only a studio group until I found a mention in the April 30, 1966 issue of Billboard that states “Ray West’s group the Quadrangle closed at Arthur last week and will now record under the supervision of Artie Kornfeld.” Artie Kornfeld did produce them, using the songwriting team of Michael Konstan and Jay Fishman.
Kornfeld had a lot of experience writing classic songs as half of the Changin’ Times with Steve Duboff. Their original versions of “Pied Piper” and “How Is the Air Up There” were covered with more success by other bands. Kornfeld went on to work with many other acts as producer. Michael Konstan released a solo lp on RCA in ’73. I’d like to know more about the other members of Quadrangle, though.
This site is a work in progress on 1960s garage rock bands. All entries can be updated, corrected and expanded. If you have information on a band featured here, please let me know and I will update the site and credit you accordingly.
I am dedicated to making this site a center for research about '60s music scenes. Please consider donating archival materials such as photos, records, news clippings, scrapbooks or other material from the '60s. Please contact me at rchrisbishop@gmail.com if you can loan or donate original materials
The Ground Floor People cut two fine singles, first “Walking on Eggs” / “It’s All Right Now”, produced by Ronnie Eden and Joe Simmons on Parfait 101, from September, 1966, then “Treat Me Better” and “Workaday World”, produced by Morty Croft and Ronnie Eden, and released on Mercury 72719 in mid-late 1967.Joe Simmons was a real sweetheart. I wrote “It’s All Right Now” with Joe and collaborated on another song that I wrote and he did the arrangement on. It was called “My Man’s a PHD”. Ronnie Eden produced the session and discovered a young “Aretha type” singer to record the song. I remember Ronnie saying that he got a drummer, Perdie Persaval [Bernard Purdie?], who he said played for James Brown, and Perdie got the other musicians to sit in on the session.
My brother was drafted and the group broke up. I played with a few different bands for a while and eventually put together the second Ground Floor People. Sammy Sicalo, lead guitar, George Mandel on keyboard, and Tony Radicello on bass and lead vocals. I played drums and sang lead, background vocals as well. I wrote “Treat Me Better” and “Work A Day World” with Tony. When Ronnie got a recording contract form Mercury records, Tony and I wrote two more songs, “Wanted To Be With You” and “Make A Little Room”. All four songs were recorded at the Mercury session. I always felt “PHD” and the last two tunes at Mercury were my best efforts.
Primates
From the Bronx, the Elegant Four were also known as the Elegants. Tom Crosgrove was lead guitarist and vocalist, and wrote both songs on their only 45. Other members included Bill Dennis and Pete Santora.
“Save Me” is a slow and intense psychedelic 45 featuring the anguished vocal of Richy Pecchio over the Brotherhood of Soul’s repetitive vamp. The flip is a shorter instrumental version of “Save Me”, retitled “The Morning After” with the bass guitar right up at the edge of the red on the meters.
He also signed Nate Bouknight, also known as “Little Nat” from the Shells. Their hit song was “Baby Oh Baby” (late 50’s fame). Nate wrote a real good song called “Do This Do That,” that made some noise. Certainly I learned a lot from him.
